Rays: 1, Athletics: 0 - The Wonderful Wizard of Baz

Baz and Uceta combine to shut out A’s and Siri blasts a solo HR for Rays win

First game of the road trip was not great, lets see if the Rays can bounce back for game 2 of a 4 game series against the Oakland Athletics.

Chat, I’m not going to lie, for most of this game, it looked like neither team could buy a run if they wanted to. Rays had a baserunner in the 1st inning via a Morel walk, but couldn’t do anything else. Rays got their first hit on a Yandy Diaz single in the 3rd, but the scoreless streak continued. It looked like the Rays would finally get a run in the 6th inning, after Yandy Diaz doubled with only 1 out, and moved over to third base on a Brandon Lowe groundout. And then Christopher Morel ended the threat on a brutal strike 3 call by Home Plate umpire Tripp Gibson

Rays offense has been abysmal as of late, but as long as the pitching held up, Rays have a chance.

And boy did it. Shane Baz reminded everyone why he was a coveted player, and although his wipeout pitches weren’t all the way back, you could see his confidence building as the game went on.

Baz went 7.2 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, and 4 Ks, with his fastball still hitting 97 MPH deep in the 7th inning.

Back-to-back starts of 7 IP or more for Shane Baz, and his stuff gets better and better.

As for the offense, it was still not great, but it was enough!

Jose Siri breaks the Rays and himself out of the offensive slump and blasts a solo HR to give the Rays a 1-0 lead.

Edwin Uceta came on relief for Shane Baz, and a multi - inning save on NINE pitches. TOTAL.

FINAL: Rays - 1, Athletics - 0

Rays squeak out a win, but as Dominic Toretto says “It don’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile, winning’s winning.”

Rays will be back at the Coliseum tomorrow with Ryan Pepiot taking on Oakland’s Mitch Spence. Gametime is at 9:40 PM EST.